Magic Round is over for another year, and the focus turns towards the next two rounds as several players stake their claim for State of Origin selection with the first game just three weeks away.

If the finals were to start this weekend, the Cowboys versus Storm and Roosters versus Panthers matches on Saturday night would be the qualifying finals, though home-ground advantage is reversed for these fixtures with the Cowboys (third) and Roosters (fourth) being the home sides.

After a tumultuous week at Belmore, the last-placed Bulldogs will need to pick themselves up for their first trip to Leichhardt Oval where they face the second-last-placed Wests Tigers, who haven’t been faring too well either.

Among the other matches of the round, a classic rivalry will be revived when the Eels clash with the Sea Eagles at CommBank Stadium, while 1988 entrants the Knights and Broncos kick off the round.

Knights versus Broncos
For the second consecutive weekend the Newcastle Knights have the honour of opening the round and will do so with a tough clash against the much-improved Brisbane Broncos at home.

The Knights put an end to a seven-match losing streak with a much-needed 16-6 win over the Bulldogs, which has lifted them off the bottom of the ladder and relieved the pressure on third-year coach Adam O’Brien.

But they will need to more than just bring their A-game when the Broncos, who come in on the back of four straight wins, following a 2-4 start to the season.

It would not surprise you that Adam Reynolds has been the architect of the club’s on-revival, the halfback and captain enjoying his football again after being forced out of Redfern due to salary cap issues.

He was at the forefront of the Broncos’ attack as, despite being the away side and having to use the visitors’ sheds, they thrashed the Manly Sea Eagles 38-0 to register their sixth win of the season and entrench themselves in the top eight.

And while the halfway mark of the season isn’t too far away, the side’s impressive form can only do so much to suggest that a return to better times might not be too far off.

On the road, the Broncos should make it five in a row as the State of Origin period looms.

Prediction: Broncos by 16 points.

Wests Tigers versus Bulldogs
It’s the battle of the cellar dwellers with the Wests Tigers and Bulldogs both occupying the bottom two places on the NRL ladder going into Friday night’s clash at Leichhardt Oval.

There was nothing magic about both teams’ performances last week as they crashed to horror losses against the Cowboys and Knights respectively, with the latter resulting in crisis talks that resulted in the departure of coach Trent Barrett.

Despite an aggressive recruiting campaign that included landing premiership players Matt Burton and Josh Addo-Carr as well as ex-Dragons pair Matt Dufty and Paul Vaughan, the Bulldogs have continued to underperform on the field, resulting in urgent board action.

Barrett is the first coach leave his job for his club’s dismal start to the season and is the third coach to depart Belmore since the club’s most recent finals appearance in 2016.

Only the Wests Tigers have endured a longer finals drought and the club’s ninth-placed finish in 2019, after finishing just one win outside of the eight, has proven a sliding doors moment in Michael Maguire’s tenure at the club as they continued to regress in subsequent years.

No wonder the club continually struggles to attract high-profile players with the prospect of not playing regular finals footy driving them away from Concord.

After promising wins against the Eels and Rabbitohs, the Tigers crashed to a third straight loss going down to the Cowboys 36-12, with Luke Brooks sitting out the second half due to a hamstring injury, leaving him in doubt for the clash with the Dogs.

It will be the first time since 1998 that the Bulldogs have played at Leichhardt Oval, and as such it will be the first time they play the Wests Tigers at what is informally known as ‘the eighth wonder’.

The two teams will also come together for the first time since the final round last year, when the Bulldogs finished their horror 2021 season with a bang, thrashing the Tigers 38-0.

That result alone led many to believe that the club would be able to turn a corner this year, but apart from wins over the Cowboys and Roosters, the club has actually continued to regress and now Trent Barrett has paid the price and chosen to walk away.

While the Tigers might also be at crisis point given they’ve won only two matches for the season, it is not as big as it is at Canterbury and Michael Maguire’s men should come away with the win.

Prediction: Wests Tigers by six points.

Eels versus Sea Eagles
If the Eels are to be considered serious premiership contenders in 2022, then their inconsistent form is something that must be addressed ahead of the visit by the Sea Eagles to CommBank Stadium this Friday night.

Their best win of the season against the Panthers in Round 9 come sandwiched in between disappointing losses to the Cowboys and Roosters, but while they launched a second-half comeback led by Mitchell Moses, they left their run too late.

The fact of the matter is that the Eels have now not won consecutive matches since Rounds 4 and 5 and coach Brad Arthur would be addressing what went wrong in the first half against the Roosters to ensure such lapses don’t happen again.

The Eels would love nothing more than to bounce back against a Sea Eagles side that will be licking their wounds after a humiliating 38-0 loss to the Broncos in what was a home game for the Silvertails against the locals.

Just days after it was announced that Kieran Foran would almost certainly finish his career at the Gold Coast Titans, the Sea Eagles were blanked for the first time in over 200 NRL matches. The loss meant they tumbled out of the eight with a 5-5 record.

It also marked a 84-point negative form reversal from the corresponding match last year, which they won 50-6, and they also became the first team in the short history of Magic Round to be held scoreless in a match.

Further rubbing salt into the wounds, it’s been confirmed that Ben Trbojevic suffered a shoulder injury, while older brother Tom soldiered on for the whole 80 minutes despite a knee concern.

Despite their inconsistent form, the Eels should heap on more misery on their rivals from the northern beaches in a match which will mark four decades since they defeated the Silvertails 21-8 for the second of their four premiership titles.

Prediction: Eels by 14 points.

Dragons versus Warriors
With four wins each from their opening ten matches, crunch time arrives for both the Dragons and Warriors, with their seasons quickly slipping away as we reach the State of Origin period.

Both sides suffered heartbreaking losses to the Titans and Rabbitohs respectively on the Saturday of Magic Round, with the Warriors overcoming a poor first half to fall short 32-20 while the Dragons went down in golden point extra time after a fateful knock-on at the death.

Anthony Griffin’s side are back at Kogarah Oval for the first time since Round 2 and after two straight losses would love nothing more than to bounce back in front of their fans, who for years have grown impatient over their constant underperforming over the past decade.

They would be hoping for a repeat performance by winger Mikaele Ravalawa, who scored a hat trick in their 28-16 win on the Sunshine Coast back in Round 2, ruining Shaun Johnson’s Warriors homecoming in the process.

A dismal first half against the Bunnies saw Nathan Brown’s side trail 26-0 just before half-time, only to emerge from the sheds a much different side with Marcelo Montoya scoring at the death to set up a grandstand finish at Suncorp.

Ultimately, Johnson’s 40-metre field goal attempt was unsuccessful, leaving the Warriors to wallow in their sixth defeat of the season, which would undoubtedly have Brown frustrated.

One team’s season will all but end on Saturday afternoon – and I think the Dragons can make it a double against the Warriors this season with a win on home turf.

Prediction: Dragons by 12 points.

Cowboys versus Storm
The Cowboys have not beaten the Storm since the 2015 preliminary final but here lies the chance for one of the most improved teams of the competition to break that drought against a side that is missing their best player, Ryan Papenhuyzen.

The northerners closed off Magic Round with a 36-12 thumping of the Wests Tigers, racking up their fifth straight win in the process and maintaining their place in the top four in a sign that the side are improving under second-year coach Todd Payten.

It is their longest winning streak since 2016, when they were the defending premiers, and has them well on track to qualify for the finals for the first time since their magical run to the grand final in 2017, which ended with a 34-6 loss to the Storm.

It was also their seventh win of the season, matching last year’s win tally.

Last Saturday night, Craig Bellamy’s side – who were also without halfback Jahrome Hughes – suffered their heaviest defeat for eight seasons when they went down 32-6 to the Penrith Panthers at Suncorp Stadium.

It bumped them back down to second on the ladder, having assumed top spot following the Panthers’ loss to the Eels in Round 9.

Papenhuyzen is still at least a month away from returning while Hughes is a chance to return for the clash against his old side (for whom he played only once – a 14-10 loss to the Dragons in Wollongong in 2016) in Townsville, where the Storm are unbeaten since 2015.

Despite the Storm’s impressive record against the Cowboys, which stretches back over six-and-a-half years, the northerners’ impressive form is too hard to ignore and they should make it six straight wins on Saturday night.

Prediction: Cowboys by ten points.

Roosters versus Panthers
The Roosters will face a good test of their finals credentials when they welcome the reigning premiers the Panthers to the SCG on Saturday night.

After a pair of upset losses to the Dragons and Bulldogs, two teams unlikely to play finals this season, Trent Robinson’s men have hit back in the past fortnight by clocking up wins over the Titans and Eels in Mackay and Brisbane respectively.

It marked another successful fortnight in the sunshine state for the Chooks, having also beaten the Cowboys and Broncos north of the Tweed in consecutive weeks last month.

But there is no tougher task in the NRL at the moment than facing the Panthers, who hit back from their narrow loss to the Eels by thrashing the Storm 32-6 and handing them their worst defeat since 2014.

It has only reinforced their status as the team to beat for this year’s premiership, and came despite head coach Ivan Cleary being forced to miss for a second consecutive week due to a knee injury, with his assistant Cameron Ciraldo taking the reins.

But while recent history is also on the side of the mountain men, having won their past four matches against the Roosters dating back to 2020, they have not won at the SCG since 1985, though they have only sporadically played there in the intervening years.

Having now bounced back from their loss to the Eels with an impressive win over the Storm, the Panthers should maintain the rage with a win, even if their coach Ivan Cleary is forced to spend another week on the sidelines with a knee injury.

Prediction: Panthers by 18 points.

Rabbitohs versus Raiders
With their season on even terms, the Rabbitohs will look to solidify their place in the eight against the Canberra Raiders, who have breathed life back into their season with back-to-back victories to be sitting in tenth place on the ladder.

The Bunnies shot out of the blocks with a strong first half against the Warriors, leading 26-6 at half-time before slowing down to a significant degree in the second half, eventually winning by 32-20 after Shaun Johnson missed a two-point field goal attempt for his side at the death.

Despite the victory, which was their fifth for the season, coach Jason Demetriou would not have been happy with his side’s second half capitulation and that is something he would need to address to his side at training this week.

With fullback Latrell Mitchell and captain Cameron Murray still missing due to injuries, the captaincy duties are likely to go to Cody Walker for another week, and he’ll have his side on alert for a Raiders side that are not far below them on the ladder.

Not only that, the Rabbitohs also return to Dubbo for the first time since last year’s 56-12 loss to the Panthers, which made the side take a hard look at themselves in the mirror. It proved to be a turning point last year as they went on to finish third and qualify for the grand final. 

Like Souths, the Raiders produced a barnstorming first half of footy, keeping the Sharks scoreless in the first half to lead 20-0 at half-time, before an even second half saw the Green Machine settle for a 30-10 win.

It was a memorable debut for Zac Woolford, the son of former club captain Simon who played 234 games for the club between 1994 and 2006 before being one of five high-profile players who departed the club in the latter year.

Victories in their past two matches have alleviated the pressure off long-time coach Ricky Stuart for now as he continues to deal with the knee injury suffered by Eels-bound hooker Josh Hodgson earlier this year.

Now they have a chance to prove themselves against a side that has been consistent finalists for the past four years, and another scalp could see the Raiders emerge as genuine finals dark horses in 2022.

But despite the Bunnies’ injuries, they should still prove too strong here.

Prediction: Rabbitohs by six points.

Titans versus Sharks
Having broken a five-game losing streak in style last Saturday night, the Titans will look to make it two in a row against a Sharks side that is coming off a demoralising loss to the Raiders.

Jamayne Isaako stepped up to be the hero for the Titans, making up for two missed field goal attempts by scoring in the corner in the 89th minute to give his side their third win of the season and breathe some life back into their campaign.

It has eased some of the pressure on coach Justin Holbrook, who had overseen some significant on-field improvement since arriving on the Gold Coast in 2020, but with his side having appeared to take a backward step or two this season.

A tougher task will await though when they face the Sharks who are smarting following a dismal 30-10 loss to the Raiders, which was their second against them this season and also their fourth from ten matches.

A head injury suffered by veteran forward Dale Finucane just after half-time did not help their cause, so coach Craig Fitzgibbon will be hoping to address some of the flaws to his side as they look to bounce back on the Gold Coast.

Last week’s loss aside, the Sharks have been one of the most improved teams so far this season and should take the points from the holiday strip.

Prediction: Sharks by ten points.